The Kindle Experience

Read in Bright Sunlight

E Ink screens look and read just like real paper. Kindle e-readers' matte screens reflect light like ordinary paper and use no backlighting, so you can read as easily in bright sunlight as in your living room. Unlike LCD screens, E Ink screens have no glare.

Lighter, More Compact Than Ever

Less than 170 grams. Lighter than a paperback, fits in your pocket.

Up to One Month Battery Life

No battery anxiety - read for up to one month on a single charge.

Sharp, Clear Text

Kindle uses actual ink particles and proprietary, hand-built fonts to create crisp, print-like text similar to what you see in a physical book. The screen's 100% aperture ratio means no gaps between pixels. The blacks and whites on the screen are uniform, improving image quality.

Easy on the Eyes

E Ink uses actual ink particles to create crisp, print-like text similar to what you see in a physical book. And Kindle e-readers also use proprietary, hand-built fonts to take advantage of the special characteristics of the ink to make letters appear clear and sharp.

Read in Any Position

When you read for long periods of time, you often switch positions to get more comfortable. Kindle has a uniform contrast ratio that does not change with your viewing angle, so you can read in any position.

All the Books You Love

Massive Selection

Over 2 million books, newspapers, and magazines, including latest bestsellers, Kindle exclusives and more.

Free Books in the Public Domain

More than one million free books, such as Pride and Prejudice and Treasure Island are available.

Free Book Samples

Download and read first chapters for free before you decide to buy.

Kindle Unlimited

NEW—With Kindle Unlimited, you can read as much as you want, choosing from over 650,000 titles and thousands of audiobooks. From mysteries and romance to sci-fi and more, freely explore new authors, books and genres on any device for just £7.99 a month. Try Kindle Unlimited free for 30 days. Learn more

Buy Once, Read Everywhere

Low Book Prices

We check hundreds of prices every day to make sure our prices are the lowest of any ebook store in the UK. Compare our book prices - you'll like what you find.

Kindle Owners' Lending Library - Read for Free

With an Amazon Prime membership, Kindle device owners can choose from more than 300,000 books to borrow for free--as frequently as one book per month, with no due dates--including current and former top sellers in the Amazon.co.uk Kindle Store and all seven Harry Potter books.

Exclusive Kindle Titles

Over 300,000 Kindle exclusive titles that you won't be able to find anywhere else, including books by best-selling authors such as Michael Ridpath, and Phil Rickman.

Kindle Owners' Lending Library

Kindle Owners' Lending Library

Kindle Owners' Lending Library - with an Amazon Prime membership, Kindle device owners can choose from more than 300,000 books to borrow --as frequently as one book per month, with no due dates--including current and former top sellers in the Amazon.co.uk Kindle Store and all 7 Harry Potter books.

One-Day Delivery

Get fast shipping on millions of items. Take the stress out of shopping with One-Day Delivery from Amazon Prime. Choose from videos, electronics, games and much more.

Features

Holds Up To 1,000 Books

Keep your library with you wherever you go.

Built-In Wi-Fi

Kindle connects easily to your home Wi-Fi network or Wi-Fi hotspots on the road for quick, convenient access to books and content anywhere you can access Wi-Fi.

Lighter Than a Paperback

Weighs less than 170 grams and fits in your pocket.

Thinner Than a Pencil

At just over a third of an inch in thickness, Kindle is thinner than most pencils.

Books in 60 seconds

Find a book and start reading in seconds with our fast, free wireless delivery.

Adjustable Text Sizes, Font Choices

Kindle has eight adjustable font sizes to suit your reading preference. You can increase the text size of your favourite book or newspaper with the push of a button. If your eyes tire, simply increase the font size and continue reading comfortably. Kindle also has three font styles to choose from - all optimised and hand-tuned to provide the best reading experience.

Custom Fonts

Kindle uses hand-built, custom fonts and font-hinting to make words and letters more crisp, clear, and natural-looking. Font hints are instructions, written as code, that control points on a font character's line, improving legibility at small font sizes where few pixels are available. Hinting is a mix of aesthetic judgments and complicated technical strategies. We've designed our proprietary font-hinting to optimise specifically for the special characteristics of electronic ink.

Support for Non-Latin Characters

Kindle supports the display of non-Latin characters, so you can read books and documents in the translation that's right for you. Kindle displays Cyrillic (such as Russian), Japanese, Chinese (Traditional and Simplified), and Korean characters, in addition to Latin and Greek scripts.

Real Page Numbers

We match the pages of a Kindle book to the text in a print book to identify the corresponding "real" page number. Easily reference and cite passages or read alongside others in a book club or class. Available on tens of thousands of our most popular Kindle books. Page numbers are displayed when you push the menu button.

Precise 5-Way Controller

Kindle has an easy-to-use 5-way controller, enabling precise on-screen navigation for selecting text to highlight or looking up words. No on-screen fingerprints.

Fast Page Turns

Kindle's powerful processor is tuned for fast, seamless page turns.

Whispersync

Our Whispersync technology synchronises your last page read, bookmarks and annotations across your devices so you can always pick up where you left off.

Free Library Backup

We automatically back up your library in the cloud, so you never need to worry about losing your books. Re-download wirelessly anytime for free.

Search Wikipedia and the Web

Kindle makes it easy to find what you're looking for. Just enter a word or phrase and Kindle will search every instance across your Kindle library, in the Kindle Store, on Wikipedia, or the Web using Google search.

Built-In Dictionary with Instant Lookup

Come across a word you don't know? Kindle includes The Oxford Dictionary of English with over 250,000 entries and definitions for free. Kindle lets you instantly look up the definition without ever leaving the book - simply select the word with the cursor and the definition will automatically display at the bottom of the screen.

Supports Children's Books and Comics

Kindle supports children's books with Kindle Text Pop-Up, and comic books with Kindle Panel View which allows you to read a comic book panel by panel.

Personal Document Delivery

Kindle makes it easy to take your personal documents with you, eliminating the need to print. You and your approved contacts can e-mail documents - including Word, PDF and more - directly to your Kindle and read them in Kindle format. You can also send documents to your Kindle using Send to Kindle.

Bookmarks and Annotations

Add annotations to text, just like you might write in the margins of a book, with a virtual keyboard that appears just when you need it. And because it is digital, you can edit, delete, and export your notes. You can highlight and clip key passages and bookmark pages for future use. You'll never need to bookmark your last place in the book, because Kindle remembers for you and always opens to the last page you read.

Share Meaningful Passages

Share your passion for books and reading with friends, family, and other readers around the world by posting meaningful passages to social networks like Facebook and Twitter directly from Kindle, without leaving the page. Want to post or tweet about a great new novel or newspaper article? When you highlight or create a note in your book or periodical, you can easily share it with your social network. Help your network of family and friends discover new authors and books.

Public Notes

Share your notes and see what others are saying about Kindle books. Any Kindle user - including authors, book reviewers, professors and passionate readers everywhere - can opt-in to share their thoughts on book passages and ideas with friends, family members, colleagues, and the greater Kindle community.

Popular Highlights

See what millions of Kindle readers think are the most interesting passages in your books. If several other readers have highlighted a particular passage, then that passage will be highlighted in your book along with the total number of people who have highlighted it.

Shop Wirelessly

Access the Kindle Store wirelessly right from your Kindle - search and shop the world's largest selection of books that people want to read, plus magazines, newspapers and blogs. We auto-deliver all your purchases in seconds - simply search, buy, and you're ready to read.

Personalised Recommendations

Kindle makes it easy to discover new titles with recommendations personalised just for you. Kindle uses the same personalised customer experience you're used to across Amazon.co.uk, matching our best recommendations to your personal reading habits.

Newsstand

Subscribe to your favourite magazines and newspapers such as The Economist, The Spectator, The Guardian and The Daily Mail from Newsstand. New editions are auto-delivered wirelessly direct to your device the second they go on sale. All Kindle subscriptions start with a 14 day free trial.

Huge Selection, Low Prices

With the biggest selection of any ebook store in the UK, you can shop more than 1 million books, including bestsellers and new releases. UK and international newspapers, magazines, and blogs, plus more than 1 million free books, are also available.

Parental Controls

Parental Controls allow you to restrict access to the Kindle Store, Cloud, and Experimental Web Browser so you can give Kindle to a child worry-free.

Featured Accessories

Light Up Your Kindle

The embedded LED light is designed specifically for Kindle's paper-like display, adding brightness without adding glare.

Protect Your Kindle

The form-fitted leather exterior and soft microfiber interior protect and secure your device without any hinges or straps. Designed to fold back, so you can read comfortably with just one hand.

Technical Details

None, because it's wireless and doesn't require a computer to download content.

On-Device Storage

Up to 1,000 books or 2 GB internal (approximately 1.25 GB available for user content)

Cloud Storage

Free cloud storage for all Amazon content.

Battery Life

A single charge lasts up to one month with wireless off based upon a half-hour of daily reading time. Keep wireless always on and it lasts for up to three weeks. Battery life will vary based on wireless usage, such as shopping the Kindle Store, web browsing, and downloading content.

Charge Time

Fully charges in approximately 3 hours via the included USB 2.0 cable. UK power adapter sold separately.

Wi-Fi Connectivity

Supports public and private Wi-Fi networks or hotspots that use the 802.11b, 802.11g, or 802.11n standard with support for WEP, WPA and WPA2 security using password authentication or Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS); does not connect to WPA and WPA2 secured networks using 802.1X authentication methods; does not support connecting to ad-hoc (or peer-to-peer) Wi-Fi networks.

Kindle is sold with a worldwide limited warranty of one year provided by the manufacturer. If you are a consumer, the limited warranty is in addition to your consumer rights, and does not jeopardise these rights in any way. This means you may still have additional rights at law even after the limited warranty has expired (for further information on your consumer rights, click here). Use of Kindle is subject to the terms found here.

I already have the original Kindle with the keyboard and have been extremely pleased with it. As soon as I saw this smaller, lighter version of the Kindle I thought I would get it to carry around with me when I go to work and in my handbag.

It has the same functionality that is available on the original Kindle, it just doesn't have a physical keyboard. If like me you didn't use the keyboard much then it is worth losing it to gain a smaller reading device. There is an on-screen keyboard available for inputting data which is controlled by the four way selector button. It is more time consuming to use than the physical keyboard but I didn't find it to be too much of an issue.

This Kindle is significantly smaller in size and lighter in weight than the older version. This means that it is much more comfortable to hold for long periods of time without making your wrists ache from holding it. Despite being lighter it still feels sturdy, solid and well made.

The front of the Kindle has the four way controller button which is used for much of the functionality and making selections. There is still a home button which takes you as you would expect, back to the home page of the Kindle. This is where your downloaded books and collections are stored. There is a keyboard button that brings up the onscreen keyboard and a back button that takes you back to the previous screen. The final button is the menu button that contains most of the functionality and options you will need to manage your Kindle.

On the right and left hand side of the Kindle you have the forward and backward buttons that allow you to change pages. By being on both sides of the device it means that you can use your preferred hand to turn the pages. The buttons are less prominent than on the original device but they seem just as easy to access and turn pages with.

The Kindle comes with a USB charger which will enable you to charge it directly from a computer, laptop, netbook etc. Note that this Kindle does NOT come with the plug adaptor for mains charging - this option needs to be purchased separately.

After charging and switching the Kindle on the screen and e-ink looked sharp, it was easy to read the words on the screen - a good contrast between them. Also, your eyes won't get as tired if you read for long periods of time as there is no backlight - something many other e-reader devices use.

This newer Kindle has less storage space than the original one, you can store around 1,000 books instead of 3,000 but this isn't a problem as you can remove books after reading them. Amazon store all the books that you have purchased and you can redownload any book you have removed within a few seconds.

The battery life is also lower than the original Kindle. I normally had to charge my original device up once a month - it seemed to go on forever. So even if this one needs charging every three weeks, so what? You can extend your battery life by turning off the wireless option once you have downloaded your books.

As someone who had virtually stopped reading books before purchasing a Kindle it has made a huge difference to me. I am never without my device and generally get through a book every one to two days. If you enjoy reading books and you haven't already bought yourself a Kindle then I would highly recommend treating yourself to one.Read more ›

On the latest Kindle the screen remains unchanged and is excellent, most significantly in sunlight. The most striking difference is the size of the Kindle - significantly smaller than the keyboard version and now looking more like the Sony eReader range. I don't need a keyboard - although you have access to a virtual one on the Kindle screen but only can only slooooowly select keys using the 5-way control on the front of the Kindle. I much prefer this compact, very light, form. The finish is also better in my opinion. I prefer the silver casing to black, and certainly the white available in US earlier-generation Kindles. Another flagged improvement is the speed of `virtually' turning the page. There is a minimal improvement but it's still not possible to repeatedly press the next page button without the Kindle quickly falling behind.

Lower specs, excluding the keyboard which I think is a plus, is the anticipated time before the Kindle needs to be recharged - one month instead of two. One month is fine for me. The storage is also reduced but Amazon archives all your purchases in the Cloud so when you have Wi-Fi access you can download them just in case you're running out of storage space. As the Kindle will hold more than 1,000 books this is not likely to be an issue. Further, listening to music and audio books is no longer an option on the Kindle (which has no speaker) so the storage won't be clogged with large sound files. Storage space is not critical therefore. I also find that with Wi-Fi pretty ubiquitous these days that the loss of a 3G is fine. Where you're likely to struggle finding a Wi-Fi access point you're also likely not to be in a 3G area but can still rely on a slower GPRS or Edge mobile download. It is possible to connect the Kindle to a PC and move e-books to it via the USB cable so the Wi-Fi less have a work around (but you need Wi-Fi at least once to activate it on receipt).

Overall this is a refreshing update of the Kindle focussed on the key features of an e-reader - a good screen/size ratio, lightweight form, ease of downloading new books, and an excellent screen. And thanks to the focus on core features it's cheaper than earlier versions. Recommended.

Update: If you're considering investing in a new Kindle the Kindle Touch which, as the name suggests, comes with a touch screen might be worth a look. This adds the functionality of a touch screen, innovative searching of content in addition to a standard dictionary, more storage space and a longer battery life. It's currently £20 more than the standard Kindle and available late April 2012. Check out the Amazon Kindle comparison page.Read more ›

Buying a bog standard, lower end kindle for myself with Xmas money was purely on the basis of money available at the time. That said, I would have no intention of buying any other reader when this one eventually expires because I've thrashed it too much. ;-)

My reason is simple. I have an ipad but for reading, the glass screen tended to glare after a while. Don't get me wrong i adore the ipad but I wanted a book reader that does that and that alone.

The screen is built for no glare and reads just like a book.

The keyboard has been removed and put 'on-screen' to make for lighter reading. And if you just want to read this a big plus.

The buttons on the side to move forward or backwards a page are so subtle that it will become second nature and not interfere with your attention to the story. (Buttons are on both sides for lefties and righties too. God I love this product)

There is no backlight so there is absolutely no artificial leanings to the reading experience. It reads like a book should and buying a case with light feels like a book with a lamp on when you're in bed snuggled up.

For some, what I have said above may seem like they have 'left out' certain perks so they can reach the budget buyers but for me all the above confirms (and will to the readers who love a proper book and are unsure whether to change), is that everything that is unnecessary when all you want to do is read a book isn't there.

The best way to sum it up is.........

This Kindle is bog standard. It does nothing more than 'be' a reader. There's no fancy asides. It is what it is. And it does it perfectly.

Accidental damage cover starts on day 1 and lasts for 3 years from your Kindle ship date

No excess or fees for any claims made by you

Make up to 3 claims over 3 years

Available for UK customers only, on Kindles purchased on Amazon.co.uk or from authorised offline retailers within the last 30 days

Your Kindle comes with a one-year manufacturer's warranty. If you are a consumer, you will also have consumer rights and this 3-year protection plan with Accidental Damage from Handling (ADH) and Theft Protection is provided to you in addition to these rights, and does not prejudice your consumer rights in any way. However, your consumer rights will not include protection for accidental damage and theft cover. For more information on your consumer rights for faulty goods, click here.

Before buying this extended warranty, you must read its terms and conditions available here.